Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Shadow People

Shadow People are one of the most common paranormal encounters that are reported. For those that don't know, Shadow People are described as paranormal shadow-like figures that resemble humans (if you want to read up on them, go here).

I don't believe in ghosts as much as I do Shadow People, mainly because I feel like I see them more than I do entities. Ever since coming back from Alamosa, I've been seeing things out of the corner of my eye.

I work at a place called Good Earth Garden Center, and it's been around in it's current location for several years now (I'm thinking about thirty years). There is an old house in the back of the lot that we use for our break room, and the house itself is rather old. It was at the end of the day, and I was just coming back into the house to grab my purse. All the lights were off, so the only light was from the small, dusty windows that were letting in a bit of light. Right by the shelves where I had my purse is a door. It opens out (towards me), and it was open just a crack.

As I approached the door, I could see something standing right beside the door. In the little gap between the door and the jamb, it just looked like a mass standing there, blocking out the light from the other room. Thinking it was one of my coworkers, I called out a greeting as I bent down and grabbed my purse. When no one replied, I stood back up.

The mass in the door was gone.

The only direction anyone could have gone was either out into the main room where I was, or farther back into the room. Upon opening the door the rest of the way and looking around in the tiny room, it became apparent that no one else was inside.

That's not the only encounter at my work, however. There have been many instances where I can hear footsteps walking on the gravel behind me, but when I turn around, no one is there. I've seen flickers of things disappear around corners, and I've heard disembodied voices coming from empty rooms.

Who knows? Maybe there are more than just flowers at Good Earth.

While We're Away


Well, it's that time again. The school year has come to an end, and until next August, we won't be doing any paranormal investigations.

Next fall, we'll be losing two of our members: our co-founder Jake and our tech manager Lauren. We'll miss them a lot, but both have promised to come and visit us, so keep an eye out for that.

Until we start up again, I figured I'd fill you all in on a few mysterious things that have been happening with me lately that continue to keep me on the edge of my seat and remind me why I started this club in the first place.

Being back home in Colorado Springs for the summer, I'd assumed all my paranormal encounters would be at a minimum. I, however, was wrong. It was the first morning back from school, and I was home alone in the dining room, enjoying some delicious cereal. It was just myself and my boyfriend's dog, and things were quiet.

From upstairs, the floorboards began to creak. Not just a "the house is settling" kind of creak, either. I'm talking "it sounds like someone's home and walking around" kind of creak, which was very unsettling because I was, in fact, the only person home. The house is set up a little different: on the main floor, you've got the living room, kitchen, and dining room. Upstairs is a bedroom and bathroom (which belong to my boyfriend's parents, who were both at work) and then downstairs in the basement is my boyfriend and I's room. So, to hear creaking footsteps coming from the bedroom above me was a bit unsettling.

At first, I let it go. I don't like jumping to conclusions, and my cereal was pretty delicious. As I was getting up to put my bowl in the sink, the top stair coming down from the bedroom creaked. I froze and waited, and a moment later, another creak came, this one a bit lower. At that instant, my boyfriend's dog jumped up and raced around to stand at the bottom of the stairs, and he began barking like crazy. It wasn't one of his carefree "hey there's another dog outside" bark, it was this hellish, ferocious bark that I'd never heard from him before.

A moment later, there was a flurry of creaks across the bedroom, which sounded as if someone was hurrying across the room, and then from out of nowhere they ceased. The moment they did, the dog stopped barking.

Whether it really was the house just creaking, or whether there was someone there, I don't think I'll ever know. My boyfriend's family isn't a big believer when it comes to ghosts. It was really intriguing though that when they all came home that night, and I told them what I'd heard, they'd just laughed and said "Those are just our visitors that live in the attic".

Witch Statue Update

One of our allies at Adams, a wonderful lady by the name of Berna, did a little research for us. She was the one who had originally mentioned the statue to us, and when we returned to her with the proof of the date of death, she got really excited.

As it turns out, it's an old tradition to put a non-existent date of death on witch's graves. It's believed that if you put a real date (like october 31st) the witch will be able to return to the living world when that day rolls around. So, to keep her where she belongs, those who buried her put October 36th so that she would never be able to return to us.

Wihelmina Becker was buried in a family plot that seemed to consist of her husband and their four children, with an aunt or two thrown into the mix. It's interesting when you realize that it was only her grave out of the six that had the nonexistent date.

So, thanks to our good friend Berna, we've got one of Alamosa's many mysteries solved.